For several years St. Charles Parish has made a practice of supplying commercial trash containers to residents for free to use while cleaning up or demolishing their blighted property. But a state Attorney General's report this week said the practice violates the law and that the parish must seek reimbursement for the more than $140,000 it has spent to supply the containers.

The parish paid for the delivery, use, pick up and dumping fees associated with each Dumpster out of the public works budget. The containers were supplied to residents whose property the parish had deemed blighted and a safety hazard, the opinion states.

According to the opinion, which was issued at the request of the Parish Council, St. Charles' government can still supply the containers under its blighted property ordinance, but private homeowners must pay all costs associated with the Dumpster. If residents were not billed for the cost, it would amount to using public funds for the benefit of a private landowner, a violation of the state's constitution, the opinion stated.

The payment or reimbursement from the private landowner can be collected either through a lien on the property or by setting up a repayment schedule, according to the opinion.

Parish Councilman Paul Hogan, who sought the opinion after he said some residents brought the matter to his attention, said parish administrators would need to develop a repayment plan and notify the residents of the outstanding bill.

"I'm going to prepare a memo asking the parish president what's the next step and how they plan on addressing this and keeping track of it," Hogan said.

From 2009 to April of this year, the parish spent $140,975 to rent 105 Dumpsters, according to Hogan. The cost ranged from $75 to $14,560.

A spokeswoman for St. Charles Parish said Thursday that the opinion was under review by the parish's legal department and that they would not have a comment until next week.